Weissen in Gunka no Balzer is very similar to Prussia, but the king takes on a more subordinate role compared to the military leadership.

In Youjo Senki, the Empire is presented as alternate history version of pre-World War I Germany, depicted as efficient, meriteocratic and fairly egalitarian, but surrounded by countries intimidated and paranoid due to the Empire's military might.

Playing up the "confusing which era they are in" part to the hilt, the manga instead seemingly turns the conflict into an allegory of WWII rather than WWI, up to redesigning the Empire's military to look like the Wehrmacht and turning the Empire into a Nazi Germany allegory. But they're still the good guys, oddly enough.

Comic Books

DC Comics has Virman Vundabar, an agent of Darkseid who fits the stereotype to a T. Why an alien "god" from another galaxy models himself after a bygone Earth culture is anybody's guess. (Note the character was created by Jack Kirby, who had a penchant for creating anachronistic characters.)

Commercials

The latest Citroen ad (that's right, a French car), "Unmistakably German- Made in France" invokes this one in spades. "Ride of the Valkyries", fencing, blond bloke and the Brandenburg Gate.

Fanfic

The Mass Effect fanfic series Uplifted plays straight with this trope, with the Prussian aristocracy forming the core of a coup against Hitler. However, the Prussians are viewed as arrogant and narrow minded against non Prussian officers. It is a fairly realistic portrayal of the period.

The Andermani Empire in Honor Harrington pretty much Space Prussia. It is even named after Alemmania, an ancient German monarchy.

The planet on which the plot of Poul Anderson's "Among Thieves" is set is very clearly Prussia IN SPACE - inhabited by Germanic warriors led by a Junker-like aristocracy. The story's protagonist, a wily Chess Master who is clearly modeled on Bismark, manages to outwit and destroy the story's true villains - a culture of ruthless sadistic cannibals who delight in genocide - and gets the reader's full-hearted applause.

As the storm clouds gathered over Europe and the Far East in the 1930's, Pulp Magazine hero Secret Service Operator #5 fought attempts by various foreign armies to conquer the United States, including the Purple Empire, an Eastern European army right out of World War I atrocity propaganda, but with little resemblance to the fascist dictatorships rising to power at the time.

Victoria: Bill Kraft wears a Prussian uniform, complete with pickelhaube and answers to the Kaiser. Odd, since most of the book takes place twenty years into the future.

Newspaper Comics

Famous sports cartoonist Bill Gallo of the New York Daily News memorably renamed infamous Yankee owner George Steinbrenner as Prussian General von Steingrabber, complete with a thick accent and a pointy helmet. It became so popular that Steinbrenner posed as his Prussian alter ego for a photo shoot.

Tabletop Games

The Neu Swabian League, a supranational alliance of Germany, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland that's one of the Full Thrust superpowers, is Prussia IN SPACE complete with an emblem that's the Imperial Eagle given a sci-fi makeover. In an aversion of Prussia's usual portrayal, they are as close to "good guys" as you're getting in a Grey and Grey Morality setting.

The Chaos Dwarfs use mostly Mesopotamian imagery, with elaborate helmets, ziggurat temples, Persian style beards and bull-like monsters. But on second look, they are a rigidly disciplined race with advanced industry and love of firepower, especially heavy artillery. And many of their helmets have spikes on top. You can even find an old model of an artillery sergeant wearing a monocle.

The Reikland, political capital of the Empire, is strongly based on Prussia, keeping with the Germanic theme of the Empire.

Warhammer 40,000: When the Imperium of Man isn't cribbing from Ancient Rome or Soviet Russia under Stalin, they're probably aiming for this trope with the "confusion between which World War they're in" part Up to 11. The Death Korps of Krieg are a particular stand-out.

Video Games

City of HeroesBig Bad and resident The Chessmaster Nemesis is from Prussia. He uses only the most state of the art steampunk technology and even dresses his Evil Minions in Prussian military gear. Since he's a very high level villain, it can be quite humbling to have your team wiped by a bunch of guys looking like they belong to a marching band.

Team Fortress 2 gives the German (and rumored to be ex-Nazi, though he's actually not) Medic an unlockable hat called the Prussian Pickelhaube.

In Europa Universalis III and IV you can found Prussian beginning in the 1500s. To do this you have to convert to Protestantism, except, ironically if you play as the Teutonic Order in III, where you can keep the Catholic faith.

Cuphead has Werner Werman, a mouse with a pickelhaube, a fairly exaggeratedGerman accent, war medals and bullet shells decorating his mouse hole, and a tank made from a soup can. Like many of the other bosses in the game, he is also a mishmash of puns and shout outs. In his case, he's a Shout-Out to both old war cartoons and (obviously) Tom and Jerry. Which is a lot more brilliant than it might seem at first: "Jerry" was a common nickname for German soldiers in World War I.

As it starts out in the eighteenth century, it's unsurprising that Prussia makes an appearance in the Alternate HistoryLook to the West. There was no Miracle of the House of Brandenburg in this timeline and Frederick the Great was killed at the Battle of Kunersdorf, meaning Prussia's ascendancy is halted. Prussia is then completely destroyed over a series of later wars, eventually being divided between Denmark and Saxony and its last king exiled to America.

Community

Tropes HQ

TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. Privacy Policy